Anecdotes

[a.zapantis@qut.edu.au (Alex Zapantis)]

This is not related to radiation but its a good storey anyway.

In 1991 I worked in an XRD/XRF Facility. One evening I came into the lab to
prepare for an undergrad prac. I found one of the lecturers on his hands and
knees picking up bits of glass. When he saw me, he looked up, tears
streaming from his eyes and with a look of horror said "The F.......ing
thing blew up!" I looked around and saw that a computer monitor had been
smashed, a large chunk of brick was missing from the wall and lying on the
floor, a glass cabinet was smashed and one of the wooden benches had deep,
broad scratches.

The lecturer was doing research into quatifying stress in metals by
analysing their XRD spectra. He had two annuluses (annuli??) mad from
stainless steel each about 5cm high and 3cm thick. He had heated the larger
annulus and cooled the smaller annulus in liquid Nitrogen so that the
smaller would fit within the larger. He then placed the whole thing on the
bench. The outer annulus failed, breaking into three large pieces. One went
through the computer monitor, one hit the wall and one ended up in the glass
cabinet. If it had failed half an hour later, a student would have been
sitting at that computer and would have been hit in the back of the neck. We
were very lucky.

Oh, the lecturer had tears streaming down his face because he was wearing
contact lenses for the first time and wasn't yet used to them.

Regards


                I know that you believe you understand what you think I said 
                but I am not sure that what you heard is actually what I meant.

                        Alex Zapantis
                        Radiation Safety Officer                               
                        Queensland University of Technology          
                        Health & Safety Section                             
                        Locked Bag No.2
                        Red Hill Qld 4059
                        AUSTRALIA

                        Ph     : 61 7 864 3566
                        fax     : 61 7 864 3993
                        email  : a.zapantis@qut.edu.au